International Law and Canada’s Response to Russia’s War in Ukraine

• In Event: Canadian Foreign Policy in a Shifting Global Context

Abstract

Faced with recent perceived challenges to global security, Canadian policymakers and scholars have called for Canada to help strengthen the rules-based international order. But what does such a commitment mean in practice? To address this question and contribute to our panel’s broader interdisciplinary debate, this paper examines important aspects of Canada’s response to Russia’s war in Ukraine to better understand how international law influenced this response, and how key decision-makers understood said law. It draws on constructivist International Relations (IR) theory and “interactional” International Law (IL) theory, and employs a method of legal analysis and elite interviews with Canadian diplomats and leaders. I argue that, contrary to what some dominant IR perspectives might predict, Canada’s response suggests that international law can play four underappreciated roles in the foreign policy of middle powers: 1) it constitutes identity; 2) it regulates conduct; 3) it legitimates behaviour; and 4) it structures the development of new norms. However, contrary to what IL scholars might predict, it is unclear whether these effects are ultimately attributable to an obligatory quality in law. In other words, a commitment to the rules-based order likely means different things in different scenarios, but it does not necessarily mean a fidelity to international law.

Author

• Sean Richmond, Carleton University